Behind the Plate: Swanton Street Diner

Each week, Wicked Local goes behind the scenes at a local restaurant to introduce the people behind the signature dishes. This week, it's Winchester's turn, and we visit the Swanton Street Diner.

A diner is a diner is a diner, right? Chicken noodle soup, open-faced turkey sandwiches slathered in gravy and, if you’re lucky, a decent slice of pie are what we expect from the typical diner experience. Tasty and satisfying, but nothing to write home about.

But what if we told you there’s a diner in Winchester that is so much more than a diner. It’s got the heroically-scaled breakfasts, sure. You could get a cheeseburger club at lunch. But how about shrimp scampi pizza? Veal scallopini with wild mushroom ravioli? Goat cheese lamb chops? That’s starting to sound more like an upscale restaurant. And that is the paradox that is the Swanton Street Diner.

Mario Navarro, owner and chef, agrees that the Swanton Street Diner has a bit of an identity issue. Wildly popular for its breakfast selections, which include lobster Benedict, French toast, omelets, and fresh waffles with real maple syrup, it is less well-known for its specialty offerings.

"The name is a misnomer," said Navarro, who has been at the restaurant for 17 years and the owner for 11. "We don’t have a diner menu. We offer prime rib, steak and fish."

Customers have suggested he change the name of the restaurant to "bistro" to better reflect the cuisine, but Navarro said he hates to mess with success.

The cozy Swanton Street Diner can be described as one of the area’s best-kept dining secrets. Packed on the weekends, it is slightly quieter during the week. A reliable selection of regular diners from Winchester and surrounding towns have been sitting down to daily specials since opening day, Navarro said. Their preferences are known so well that the staff starts cooking as soon as they walk though the doors.

"I know most of the customers and if I’m not too busy, I’ll sit down and chat," he said. "They feel welcome here."

Navarro began cooking about 20 years ago, very soon after his arrival in Boston from El Salvador. After a short stint at a downtown restaurant, he joined the staff at Swanton Street Diner, and never left. He currently lives just a few doors down from the restaurant.

Navarro doesn’t worry much about dining trends or fancy ingredients. He is proud that the menu has remained fairly consistent in all the time that he has been there. That’s not to say he doesn’t craft his offerings.

"When I’m cooking, I like to think about presentation," he said. "I want everything to look great on the plate."

One signature dish, salmon Napoleon, featuring two fillets layered with mango-pineapple salsa, and slathered with an Asian-inspired barbecue and plum sauce, is so pretty, "people say they don’t want to start eating because it looks so good," he said.

Ultimately, Navarro said, he wants people to know about Swanton Street Diner. He doesn't do much promotion, has no webpage or social media presence.

"People want to call it a bistro, and I may do it," he said. "I probably will. But business is so good, I don’t know."